This application claims the priority of German application DE 199 43 002.0, filed in Germany on Sep. 9, 1999, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
This invention relates to a cooling device for an internal combustion engine installed in a motor vehicle such as a passenger car. The cooling device has several radiators, which are disposed in the front section of the passenger car and connected with the internal combustion engine by pipelines.
A cooling device of the type mentioned above is known from German Patent Document DE 39 30 076 C1. This cooling device is disposed in the front space of a motor vehicle and, moreover, as seen in the driving direction, in front of a cooling fan driven by an internal combustion engine. The cooling device comprises two radiators; one radiator is disposed obliquely in the front space of the motor vehicle, and the other radiator is disposed upright.
In German Patent Document DE 36 11 713 C1, a cooling device in a motor vehicle which has a radiator and a secondary radiator is described. The two radiators are at a distance from one another and are disposed upright in the front space of the motor vehicle.
It is an object of the invention to provide a cooling device for a motor vehicle which comprises several radiators, is highly effective, and can be installed in the front section of the motor vehicle in a justifiable space.
This object is accomplished by a particular cooling device for an internal combustion engine, installed in a motor vehicle such as a passenger car, which has several radiators. The cooling device is disposed in the front section of the passenger car and connected with the internal combustion engine by pipelines such that the cooling device in the front section has one radiator extending transversely to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle and two lateral radiators extending obliquely to a central longitudinal plane. By way of a collecting device, the radiators are connected with cooling water outlet pipelines at a common supplying pipeline connected with the internal combustion engine. Downstream from the internal combustion engine, there is a returning pipeline, which is connected with a branching device, from which the cooling water-supplying pipelines run to the radiators.
The main advantages achieved by the invention, in which the cooling device has three radiators, are that the front space is well utilized and that an efficient cooling performance for the internal combustion engine is enclosed. The cooling water outlet pipelines, the collecting device, the supplying pipeline, the returning pipeline, the branching device, and the cooling water-returning pipelines make a properly functioning cooling water cycle possible for an internal combustion engine disposed in the front, in the rear, or close to the rear (in a mid-engine construction) of a motor vehicle. The cylinder-supplying pipelines extend from the water pump in a clear manner to the rows of cylinders. Finally, an auxiliary supplying pipeline, by which the heat exchanger is supplied for cooling the engine oil, comes from the water pump. This heat exchanger cooling, which acts independently of the cylinders, ensures a uniform supply of cooling water to the two rows of cylinders.